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Namco ES1 WMMT4

nismopunch

nismopunch

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I picked this up on YAJ, was labeled as junk and unconfirmed start but I got excited and got it anyways. It arrived today and booted up to cool warning noises and the below note.

USB Dongle Error.jpg

USB dongle doesn't match drive fail. The dongle does say it is WM4, and so does the HDD..hmmm.

ES1.jpg

Anyway a bit dissapointed but at least the ES1 appears to work. Now it will be just hunting for a drive/usb dongle combo, since the ones I have are mismatched and I believe the drive won't be able to be used with another dongle from what I have read. Not sure the MBR 0s trick would help here, but any suggestions or just save this in hopes of getting a good usb/hdd combo or a multi? lol
 
Awesome find!

Ah good thing I didn't bid on this, I would have been bidding against you if this is the one from a couple weeks ago. Just curious, I know the final price was pretty low, how much did you pay for shipping on it? I have one I need shipped but I need to choose the cheapest shipping method.

If you could, would you be able to take screenshots of the PCB that is right below the 'WMMT4 JPN' label? I need to confirm the pinouts as well as the one on the right (the last PCI slot).
Also, how do you know the USB/HDD combo doesn't match? From what I remember, WMMT4 is supposed to use two dongles (based on that warning message it is saying to insert the specified dongle). If you unplug the dongle you have in now, check to see if the error code changes. I could be wrong but it should come with dongles like this (see my attachment)
 

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Ahhhhh it needs two dongles?! Lol dmnit. Oh well add it to the learning curve haha. I used Google translate on the error and it came up with the following:

Please de-click call attendant
USB dongle does not match
Please insert the USB dongle for the drive enclosure


I guess now you said it requires two that makes more sense.


Sure I can take some pics tomorrow when I clean it out..came with some baby Japanese spiders yay. The shipping on buyee I feel has gone up and the exchange rate sucks now. I had other stuff to ship with it but I did look at just shipping the ES1. $120 EMS, $140 air, $60 Sea
 
Awesome. That's good to know with the shipping. When I had my Triforce shipped it was slightly cheaper but I found that most proxies ship based on dimension, not purely based on weight.

I'm also not 100% certain you need a second dongle but it is possible to run WMMT4 without one.

Also, that elusive 2nd dongle is the dongle that contains the updated courses and tuning options, etc. Again, all speculation from what I've seen in person. You still have a good PC there. It's maybe 40%-60% playable. The reason why those pics are needed, I'd like to do some research on what is needed to get it plugged in to a WMMT3 setup. The Pinouts between WMMT3DX+ and WMMT4+ were changed so either the connections changed or the whole protocol has changed. I just can't seem to find any WMMT4 and up diagrams. Either way, here's my repair log for the broken N2 system I have. N2 Repair Log in case you were curious.
 
Hmm then if a second dongle isn't needed so weird how they got mine mixed up. I tried just quickly cleaning the USB port contacts from all the tar buildup just in case, but no dice. How is it possible to run without a second one if you mind me asking? I know you mentioned speculation, but curious for info.

I am happy I got a working PC with no damage from the quick peek I took inside other than dust, spiders, and tar. Will be awesome if I can set this up someday.
 
nismopunch said:
Hmm then if a second dongle isn't needed so weird how they got mine mixed up. I tried just quickly cleaning the USB port contacts from all the tar buildup just in case, but no dice. How is it possible to run without a second one if you mind me asking? I know you mentioned speculation, but curious for info.

I am happy I got a working PC with no damage from the quick peek I took inside other than dust, spiders, and tar. Will be awesome if I can set this up someday.
Click to expand...
Someone can correct me if I'm way off on this but on the base install of WMMT4 the first dongle checks for the game content, when the game is updated, I believe the updated check for the 2nd dongle. If the 2nd dongle is missing, the game essentially cannot run because the game has already been updated.

A close analogy would be like having a Windows Service Pack installed. If some core files already know it's been installed but the folder for all those updates were deleted, Windows won't run at all.

I'm hoping I'm wrong in that WMMT4 doesn't have a 2nd dongle. It would make it a lot easier for you to get it running. As it is, either you have the wrong combo or you are missing 1/3 of the combo.

When I saw a WMMT3DX+ machine, the 2 dongles were plugged in. I was curious and unplugged one of them and the error was similar to what you are getting. On WMMT3DX+ the error was more obvious.
 
Hmm you may be correct. Below the error screen it lists WM4 Revision 1.10.18, so definitely not a base install. Even if I were to find a second dongle do you think both are tied to the HDD?
 
nismopunch said:
Hmm you may be correct. Below the error screen it lists WM4 Revision 1.10.18, so definitely not a base install. Even if I were to find a second dongle do you think both are tied to the HDD?
Click to expand...
It's more so that the HDD is tied to a specific dongle set. I'll double check my opinion but the dongle is a one way security check. Basically, HDD checks the dongle is plugged in, verifies its the correct one with the HASP algo that matches what is stored on the HDD. You should be able to bypass the USB dongle altogether and modify one of the game files on the HDD so it doesn't even look for that dongle. (ie. dongle free WMMT4)
 
Awesome!
The pics were mainly to give me some insight on if the ES1 machine can be plugged in to a N2 cab or even Chihiro based cab. I think the answer is sort of.

I see 3 ports:
JVS (obviously standard)
Card reader port (is this really the card reader port?) <= I'm wondering if this is for steering since I see 4 pins.
Serial 3 Card Reader (IF) (What is this used for?)

Anywho, in your 'Card reader port' pic, could you take a pic of the backside as well? Is it connected to some sort of PCI card inside?
 
I mixed up the links when I was pasting. Fixed it ugh sorry long day. Anyways here are the pics of this "thing" lol

Plugged in
Top four pin goes directly to JVS input on outside. Left side long connector, motherboard header (power, leds, reset, etc) AND motherboard COM3. Bottom Connector goes to PSU.

Clear view unplugged

Also the Card IF reader port goes directly to COM4 on the motherboard
 
Thanks for sharing!
So it seems similar to SEGAs setup.

COM3 might be used for Steering/FFB
COM4 might be used for Card Reader

I'll keep an eye out for WMMT4 operator manuals.
 
I could write a book on this game, let's see what I can answer:

CONTENT MODERATED

- Revision 1.10.18 is the last known update for the game

CONTENT MODERATED. Sorry guys, as I have said several times, this is games are currently being sold and generate revenue for the developers. We don't to jeopardize that. I hope you will understand it.
 
cremble said:
I could write a book on this game, let's see what I can answer:

CONTENT MODERATED

- Revision 1.10.18 is the last known update for the game

CONTENT MODERATED. Sorry guys, as I have said several times, this is games are currently being sold and generate revenue for the developers. We don't to jeopardize that. I hope you will understand it.
Click to expand...
Awesome! So are you saying that MT4 can be played on any N2 ES1 system or is it specific to the motherboard? What is the hasp tied to in this case?
I have a bunch more questions, hopefully you can answer them for us?
 
Last edited:
An N2 might not be beefy enough to handle the game. CONTENT MODERATED.
 
Oh sorry, I totally mixed up the two systems. @nismopunch has an ES1 machine. I'm just dealing with the N2 in order to change out the Hard drive for my MT3.

What I meant to say was can you run MT4 on any ES1 system? Even an ES1 system made for another game?

Given the ports on the ES1, can an ES1 system be plugged in to a MT1/2 cab with minimal modification?
 
cremble said:
I could write a book on this game, let's see what I can answer:

CONTENT MODERATED

- Revision 1.10.18 is the last known update for the game

CONTENT MODERATED. Sorry guys, as I have said several times, this is games are currently being sold and generate revenue for the developers. We don't to jeopardize that. I hope you will understand it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing this. Reading about DRM innards is always interesting.
 
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